OK that's three straight nationally televised games vs Heat, Pacers, and Cavs that we blow out a potential playoff foe. Throw in the wins vs western powers, Suns and Mavs the prior week and the message has been sent around the league that Pistons are running on all cylinders and ready to reclaim the crown. Hate to use that cliche' but it is true in this case. Yeah there was that two pt loss to the Magic, but we know what happen there.

Tonight's game was over before LBJ went down, so hopefully the no Piston haters will say that we won because he was down. Four games left, and we should clinch the overall HCA on Friday vs the Rapts, or definitely at home Sunday vs LB's bricks. After that Flip can rest the starters as both the Bucks and the Wiz will be playing for positioning next week. Good production by the bench, good defense and a lot of hustle.

Good time in the Chat room tonight as my bruddah HQ mentioned. Good discussion withpistonchickforever as we had her and a short visit by Armygirl to add some softness to the mix.

To bad the ESPN bonus coverage had to ruin it, but since we are are almost in bracket mode, I understand that fans of team on the bubble want to see a little bit of their teams in action......funny no Magic highlights or bonus coverage......

That game did have a playoff type atmosphere to it. Pistons started playing D in the 1st quarter instead of the 4th like they usually do. Bens defiance in the Orlando game has kicked the team into playoff mode.

From the last 1st quarter onward the Pistons out-scored the Cavs 40-10. Varajao's cheap retaliation for the Ilgauskas head injury earlier this season definetly backfired. Sheed was not hurt ( thank god ) and Verajao was exposed for the punk he is on national TV. Plus it inspired the Pistons to totally bury the Cavs. I am guessing here that if the Pistons do meet the Cavs in the 2nd round Varajao will get run by the refs. Something should have happened to him for his 1st hard foul on Dyess they let it go and he did something worse to Sheed.

I enjoyed that game. Sent a strong message to the Cavs on what to expect in the post-season. This is our likely 2nd round opponent.

cavs coach mike brown: "Flip outcoached me and their players outplayed us on both ends of the floor," Brown said. "Even their cheerleaders did a nice job."

sheed: "It was just another soft foul," Wallace said. "I don't know what he was trying to do, but it didn't work."

this was total domination. i especially liked our defense of lebron, playing slightly off him, having one of the big men step out a little bit so they were always ready to trap, and always had 2 lines of immediate defense to go with the 3rd line at the basket.

It was wickety wack how they started playiing other games when Lebron got taken out. And why does Shaq, the onlt player i see in the nba, get a lane violation called on the opposing team when shooting fre throws??

Cleveland fans were distraught last night. Everyone from Gooden to Hughes was the devil.

The best line I saw was a Cleveland fan answering back a post from a Detroit fan with "You better hope you can handle the Spurs!"

I guess that is like when you wish the other guy good luck in the next round, but not too much luck.

I'm kinda wondering, but does all of the LeBron attention turn you off? I know the Darko attention turned me off to him, I just can't seem to get on James' bandwagon despite his stellar abilities. He's sold as so much more than a good player. If you listen to the hype, he's redefining fashion in Paris, he's living larger than Tommy Lee, he's the cure for diseases yet to be discovered, and in his spare time he just might figure out cold fusion.

The LeBron thing seems kind of ... forced. People go nuts (as they did last night) for the same breakaway, posterizing-NOBODY dunk he always does, but on the whole his game just isn't that interesting to me.

He seems like a good guy and he's incredibly effective, but it's all straight lines and him barging to the hoop with that great speed-strength combination. Kinda like a Herschel Walker-Earl Campbell type of football player, who can bull through you or outrun you until he gets that first bad injury.

Wade is a lot more fun to watch, but ESPN has clearly bet the house on LeBron. If the Cavs had won last night, it would not have been buried as deep in the sports recaps as the Pistons' win has been.

The LeBron thing seems kind of ... forced. People go nuts (as they did last night) for the same breakaway, posterizing-NOBODY dunk he always does, but on the whole his game just isn't that interesting to me.

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Yep, I'm so tired of that dunk. They could probably put the same clip in the nightly highlights and no one would be the wiser.

I'm kinda wondering, but does all of the LeBron attention turn you off? I know the Darko attention turned me off to him, I just can't seem to get on James' bandwagon despite his stellar abilities. He's sold as so much more than a good player. If you listen to the hype, he's redefining fashion in Paris, he's living larger than Tommy Lee, he's the cure for diseases yet to be discovered, and in his spare time he just might figure out cold fusion.

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lanierfan said:

The LeBron thing seems kind of ... forced. People go nuts (as they did last night) for the same breakaway, posterizing-NOBODY dunk he always does, but on the whole his game just isn't that interesting to me.

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I'm with you on the attention thing. How seriously can you take someone who does commercials with dolls? I kinda want not to like him too, but the man brings a serious game. Very few players have dominated so many statistical categories at such a young age, maybe no one. He plays more minutes than anyone else, is second in triple doubles, efficiency rating, total points and still manages #16 in steals per game, #19 in defensive rebounds, and the list goes on and on. If he can cut down on turnovers (which I'd say will come with a couple of better teammates) and learn to lead a bit more, it's hard to see many limits for him.

The only thing that put Brand over James in the MVP race for me was the larger improvement the Clips made over last year versus the Cavs. But that was before the last couple of weeks. Today, I might have to give the edge to Lebron.

Will the Cavs put the right players around him and will he find the fire down deep seem to be the only things you can question. If the Cavs come up with a Pippen, a Grant, and a couple of others, and still find a way to pay James, it's going to be fun times on Lake Erie for a long time to come.

Micro, what Darko atten.? Did I miss something. He never played. No one ever claimed him to be next coming, after the first year. I'm sure it wasn't all the atten. he got in the forums.
...I like the ESPN James commercial were the dude takes his huge chair, then pretends like nothing is wrong. The dudes head barely clears the armrest.